SNOWDROP. 
19 
Even thou, who mourn’st the daisy’s fate 
That fate is thine—no distant date ; 
Stern Ruin’s plowshare drives elate 
Full on thy bloom, 
Till, crushed beneath the furrow’s weight, 
Shall be thy doom ! 
SNOWDROP: 
. OR, 
FAIR MAID OF FEBRUARY. 
(.Friend in Need — Hope.) 
T HE snowdrop is dedicated to the Virgin Mary: 
and tradition asserts that it blooms on the second 
of February, or Candlemas Day—the day kept in cele¬ 
bration of the Holy Virgin taking the Child Jesus to 
the Jewish Temple, and there presenting the appointed 
offering of two turtle doves. 
THE SNOWDROP. 
WESTWOOD. 
The snowdrop is the herald of the flowers, 
Sent with its small white flag of truce to plead 
For its beleaguered brethren : suppliantly, 
It prays stern winter to withdraw his troop 
Of winds and blustering storm ; and having won 
A smile of promise from his pitying face, 
Returns to tell the issue of its errand. 
To the expectant host. 
